I took my first walk on American Beach with Marsha Phelts, retired librarian of 37 years and author of multiple books on the history of American Beach. Before our walk, she said she had something very important to show me. “This is my bathing suit. I bought this bathing suit in the 1960s for $35 to wear on American Beach. When I wore my bathing suit I was EVERYTHING. I put it on and walked where you walked when you wanted to be SEEN. I was everything. American Beach was everything.” Marsha never got a picture of herself in her bathing suit. She said I was the devil for asking her to put it on, so we took it to the beach and got this photo instead. #americanbeach